M542
Exam 1 Study Guide

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The Examinations in M542 are designed to evaluate your ability, not only to recognize the musical works, scores, terms, and readings under consideration in the course, but also to understand the stylistic characteristics of the music, as well as its place in society and in relation to important historical, political, and philosophical trends, currents, and events.  Each Examination is in two parts, each on a separate day.

Part I will comprise listening and score identification for assigned and unassigned works, as well as questions directed towards specific works on the listening list (e.g., a score comparison).

Part II will comprise identification of assigned terms and source readings, as well as an extended essay question drawn from the list below (you will be given a choice of terms and essay questions from which to choose).

[Note: Percentage values given below are tentative and may be subject to change.  They are provided primarily as a rough guideline for how much time to spend on a given section of the Examination.]

Part I (Monday 15 July)

Assigned Listening Identification [50%]

Excerpts of fifteen (15) Assigned Listening items will be played (only once per excerpt, each approximately 45 seconds to one minute in length).  For each, you will need to supply a correct and adequate identification of the excerpt, including:

Assigned Listening:


Unassigned Listening Identification [30%]

Two unassigned listening excerpts will be played for which you will need to supply the following:
Each excerpt will be played two or three times, depending upon the nature and length of the excerpt.  The excerpts will be consistent with similar examples on your assigned listening list.  Your conclusions should thus be based upon a careful consideration of the stylistic traits of the unassigned excerpts with respect to those works on your listening list.  In addition to the tentative identification just described, you will need to supply two significant stylistic characteristics in support of your conclusions.

Keep in mind that negative style traits (e.g., "no text") are not acceptable as answers.  In other words, concentrate on what is rather than what is not present in the excerpt.  Likewise, do not give as an answer a composer and genre not linked on the assigned listening (e.g., a Haydn opera--Haydn did indeed write operas, but we are not covering them in this course, so you are not expected to be responsible for them or their stylistic traits beyond the brief description in your text).


Assigned Score Identification [20%]

You will be given a score excerpt of approximately one to two pages from the assigned listening list.  For this excerpt, you will provide a complete identification (composer, title, movement or act/scene as appropriate, and date), just as described above for the Assigned Listening.  In addition, you will be asked a series of directed questions regarding the work from which the excerpt is drawn.  These might include questions about style, intended audience, intended venue, and aesthetic or philosophical considerations.


Part II (Tuesday 16 July)

Assigned Term/Name Identification (terms selected from Grout/Palisca, Weiss-Taruskin, and Lecture materials) [30%]

 You will be given a list of ten terms, six (6) of which you will need to supply with substantive identifications.  A fully formed identification will include:

[Note: a good source for many term definitions is the New Harvard Dictionary of Music (3d ed., edited by Don Randall, Cambridge, MA, 1986), a copy of which should be on the Index Table in the Music Library.  (It's also a handy book to own.)]

J. J. Quantz
Galant
Empfindsamkeit
Intermezzo
J. J. Rousseau
Reflections on the Imitation of Greek Works
Pietro Metastasio
Da capo aria
Charles Burney
Querelle des bouffons
Ensemble finale
Raniero de Calzabigi
Stile antico and moderno
Frederick II ("The Great")
H. C. Koch
Sturm und Drang
Mannheim
Eszterhàzà  
Hanover Rooms
Opera buffa
Opera seria
J. P. Salomon
Character Symphony
Learned Style
"Le matin"
"London Symphonies"
"A new and different way"
Baron Gottfried van Swieten
Singing allegro
"Haydn Quartets"
"Heiligenstadt Testament"
A. F. von Knigge

New Terms (since Quiz 1)

Lorenzo da Ponte
Double-Exposition form
E. T. A. Hoffmann
Prix de Rome
Opera semiseria
Risorgimento
"Viva V.E.R.D.I."
Double Aria - Cavatina
Beaumarchais
Reminiscence Motive
Hausmusik
Louis Véron
Eugene Scribe
"L'Opéra"
Idée fixe
Thematic transformation
Developing variation
Character piece
Johann von Schiller
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Eduard Hanslick
Cecilian movement
Song cycle
Childe Harold
C. F. Zelter

Source Reading Identifications [20%]

You will be given one or two characteristic excerpts from the Source Readings in Weiss-Taruskin.  For this section, you will have to supply:

You will, in addition, need to answer a series of brief questions regarding the context and significance of the excerpt in respect to the course materials.  You may wish to bring into your answers examples of works, composers, historical ideas and philosophies, and so forth, as appropriate.  These are not, however, essay questions, and your responses should be brief.

Selected Source Readings:

TBA


Essay Questions [50%]

The essay portion of the Examination is designed to provide you with the opportunity to demonstrate your ability not only to internalize the course materials, but also--and more importantly--to synthesize those materials into a coherent and accurate narrative, one which involves not only the musical works themselves, but their social, political, historical, and philosophical contexts.  The very best essays will be well organized and will have a central thesis or guiding idea that controls the arrangement and presentation of the materials.  This core idea should be bolstered with supporting ideas and numerous examples, including, but not necessarily limited to, composers, musical works, music theorists and theoretical treatises, source readings (from Weiss-Taruskin), and other significant terms and figures (e.g., from the Terms/Names list above).  

Three questions, of which you choose one (1) , will be drawn from the list below.  (You should plan to spend no less than half of the exam period--i.e., 25 minutes--on the essay.)

[Those with limited essay writing experience might wish to visit the Writing Tutorial Services page on Taking an Essay Test .  You may also find it useful to visit WTS and work with one of their staff members on preparing and writing essays.  Their services are free of charge and they are there to help you.  (Be sure to take the essay questions and exam description along with you!)]


1. Compare and contrast the influence of Enlightenment and Romantic thought on musical composition and practice in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

2. Explore ways in which interest in the past influenced compositional choices of composers in the Classic and Romantic Eras.  Consider aesthetic, political, philosophical, and historical, as well as musical issues in your discussion.

3. Discuss the intended “audiences” for works in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the ways in which they influenced compositional choices.  Consider in your discussion such issues as:
4. Compare and contrast “Grand” opera in France and Italy in the nineteenth century.

5. Discuss the impact of Italian musical styles and aesthetics on composers outside of Italy in the eighteenth century.

6. Explore text-music relationships in opera of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (excluding nineteenth-century German opera).  Consider in your discussion the role of composer and librettist, as well as the guiding philosophy of the composer regarding textual vs. musical dominance.

7. Examine the Symphony as a genre in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  Consider in your discussion such issues as:
8. Contrast eighteenth-century opera seria and opera buffa.  Include in your discussion cultural and philosophical contexts and premises for each genre.

9. Explore the role of chamber music (solo and ensemble) in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  Consider its cultural and societal contexts, as well as the ways in which these contexts influenced compositional choices of its composers.

10. Examine the various roles of religious, ethical, and moral thought in music and musical thought of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  Consider in your discussion both instrumental and vocal music.




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Last updated: 5 July 2002
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